Pottstown Approves Flood Project

May 12, 1988|by MARYBETH FARRELL, States News Service

More than 10 years after Rep. Richard T. Schulze presented a plan to mitigate flooding in Pottstown, borough council says it is ready to formally endorse his effort to build a multi-million dollar flood control project on the Schuylkill River.

It may be a long-awaited gesture that came just a day or two too late, at least to make a difference this year.

Borough Manager Thomas Harwood said yesterday morning that he or Council President Charles D. Garner Sr. would send a letter this week to Schulze telling him borough council formally endorsed the $7.28 million project.

Since 1982, the council has neither supported nor opposed the project, fearing it could not foot its share of the project - now at $1.9 million.

Schulze, city officials who said it cost too much, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have sparred over the merits of the project since congressional initiatives were begun in 1976.

In a recent interview, Schulze said he would push for federal funding only if a clear and strong endorsement came from Pottstown.

"If I can get the support for this project, I'll try to get the money appropriated," he said. "Until then I'm not going to work for something that nobody wants."

Since the 1972 floods brought by Hurricane Agnes, Schulze has watched the Corps conduct two studies on area flooding. In each case, the civil engineers concluded that the benefits of the project did not outweigh the costs.

Flooding in Pottstown has sent several feet of water into the downtown areas several times in the past decade, and Schulze has insisted that a reduction of the water crest level by as little as six inches would help prevent extensive damage.

The findings by the Corps failed to convince Schulze, who said the project was important not only because it would reduce danger of flooding, but because the sound and sight of machinery would give residents a sense of excitement about building the future - a psychological lift.

Schulze gained congressional authorization for the plan by including it in the Water Quality Act of 1987, which was approved last year. But Schulze had not yet pressed for appropriations, waiting for Pottstown officials to send him a notice of support, a Schulze aide said.

Harwood said he thought the project seemed more economically feasible for the borough now because it may be able to secure state grants to support funding for the project. In an internal memorandum in Schulze's office obtained from the congressman's staff yesterday, the issue had apparently become stalled when then-Gov. Richard Thornburgh said the state would not 'fund projects that have a negative Corps of Engineers rating, which this project does.'

But because the House Appropriations Committee has completed action on funding water resources projects for fiscal year 1989, and the Schuylkill River flood control project isn't in the bill, the letter may be coming just days late.

The bill could still be amended when it reaches the House floor or in the Senate.